January 2005

Student Refs rate most effective Super Bowl Ads of 2005

A group of University of South Carolina students issued their own verdict on what the rest of the country was talking about after the 2005 Super Bowl: the most effective ad. Students voted the Bud Light “Skydiver” commercial as the best overall. FedEx came in second, with Pepsi’s singing bottles spot coming in third.

Students in Bonnie Drewniany’s class, “Super Bowl Commercials: 1984 to 2005,” assessed how brand identity, likeability and persuasiveness were manifested in the commercials. The group of 50, comprised of both students and faculty, met at USC’s Newsplex facility to watch the game and commercials on Replay TV.

Students were issued a CPS, a remote control polling device, and asked to rate the commercials after viewing them. Super Bowl ads cost $2.4 million for 30 seconds of airtime. “It’s important for advertising students to understand that entertainment value alone is not enough. If a commercial makes you laugh, but doesn’t persuade you to buy the brand, then it isn’t effective,” Drewniany said.

Drewniany’s class will invite Anhesuer-Busch to campus during I-Comm week in April to receive the “Cocky” award and to give students an insider’s look at the making of the commercial. Last year Staples won the Cocky award for best overall Super Bowl commercial of 2004.

Josh Sutherland, a student who took part in the analysis, thought “Budweiser had a really strong line-up.” Budweiser’s “Skydiver” commercial showed a skydiving instructor tossing a six-pack of Bud Light out of the plane to get a reluctant parachutist to jump. The pilot pushes the parachutist out of the way and leaps out of the plane after the beer. “I figured that (brand of) beer has to be good with a pilot jumping out without a parachute,” said Derego R. Williams, one of the students in the Super Bowl class.

Drewniany was pleased with the results of the evening. “It was great that Anheuser-Busch won because they consistently do fabulous advertising. I wasn’t surprised that the skydiver commercial won because it had an unexpected twist and showed how passionate consumers are about the brand.”

Anheuser-Busch ran ten commercials during the 2005 game. Although the Skydiver spot was the overall favorite, the other Anheuser-Busch commercials were also well received.

“I was pleased to see that the students gave very high marks to the commercial that showed Cedric the Entertainer as the designated driver. The commercial showed that it’s cool to be responsible. It had a great message and never got preachy,” said Drewniany.

“It’s amazing how Budweiser’s advertising can capture the essence of the American experience and speak to people from such varied lifestyles. One Budweiser commercial will make you laugh and another will make you cry. While the Skydiver spot got a lot of laughs, the Anheuser-Busch spot that showed people applauding the American troops tugged at people’s heartstrings,” said Drewniany.

Drewniany added that one of her all-time favorite commercials ran in 2002, shortly after September 11. “I get a lump in my throat every time I see the Clydesdales bowing in front of the New York City skyline. I also loved last year’s commercial where a donkey was allowed to lead the Clydesdale hitch.”

It should come as no surprise that Drewniany’s favorite this year was the Clydesdale spot: “I loved seeing the menagerie of animals who wanted to join the Clydesdales. I’m impressed at how these magnificent horses have taken on human-like characteristics without becoming cutesy or cheapening the brand.”

How they ranked the ads

See which ads won in 2004>>